Results from a survey in healthy blood donors in South Eastern Italy indicate that we are far away from herd immunity to SARS‐CoV‐2

  1. Josè Ramòn Fiore
  2. Michele Centra
  3. Armando De Carlo
  4. Tommaso Granato
  5. Annamaria Rosa
  6. Michelina Sarno
  7. Lucia De Feo
  8. Mariantonietta Di Stefano
  9. Maria D' Errico
  10. Sergio Lo Caputo
  11. Rosella De Nittis
  12. Fabio Arena
  13. Gaetano Corso
  14. Maurizio Margaglione
  15. Teresa Antonia Santantonio

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Abstract

Here we present results from a survey on anti‐severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) seroprevalence in healthy blood donors from a low incidence coronavirus disease 2019 area (Apulia region, South Eastern Italy). Among 904 subjects tested, only in nine cases (0.99%) antibodies against SARS‐CoV‐2 were demonstrated. All the nine seropositive patients were negative for the research of viral RNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in nasopharyngeal swabs. These data, along with those recently reported from other countries, clearly show that we are very far from herd immunity and that the containment measures are at the moment the only realistic instrument we have to slow the spread of the pandemic.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.17.20133678: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    A total of 904 blood donors, referring to the Transfusional Center at the “Ospedali Riuniti” University Hospital (Foggia, Italy) were included in the study and subjected to the search for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, in the period May1-31 2020.
    anti-SARS-CoV-2
    suggested: None
    Detection of anti SARS Cov 2 antibodies: Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM were analyzed by using a chemiluminescent analytical assay (CLIA) commercially available kit (New Industries Biomedical Engineering Co.,
    anti SARS Cov 2
    suggested: None
    Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    A limitation of our study is that the enrolled population (18-65 years old) is representative of only a part of the general population, since in Italy 22% of the individuals is aged >65 years (16) However, presented data are relevant in that they refer to the more acting/interacting group of the population, also important from a productive point of view. Certainly, we are far away from herd immunity and even from the more optimistic projections of threshold (10 to 20% of the population) to adopt more relaxed strategies. In conclusion, strengthening herd immunity to control the COVID-19 epidemic is not a viable option as large numbers of people are expected to become infected and many may die from COVID-19. Preventive measures, including physical distancing, remain essential to contain the spread of infection until herd immunity can be safely acquired with the vaccine. Health authorities should take in account these considerations when facing the public health measures to be adopted throughout the COVID-19 transition phases.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1002/jmv.26425
  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.17.20133678 on medRxiv